Saturday, November 25
Bethlehem, Pa.
2 p.m.
Lehigh University
4-2
56
vs
53
Fairfield
1-4
1
2
3
4
F
Fairfield
10
11
16
16
53
Lehigh
20
11
8
17
56
Photo by: Ricky Bassman
Lehigh Holds off Fairfield to Advance to Christmas City Classic Championship
11/25/2017 9:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team advanced to Sunday's championship round of the Christmas City Classic, presented by Best Western, with their 56-53 win over Fairfield in Saturday's opening round at Stabler Arena. Sophomore Camryn Buhr set a new career-high with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting and added five rebounds and two steals. Sophomore Gena Grundhoffer scored 13 points, freshman Mariah Sexe tallied a career-best nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and senior Mae Williams registered a career-high five assists. Lehigh (4-2) held Fairfield (1-4) to just under 34 percent shooting on the day, including a 21.7 percent clip from three-point range. The Mountain Hawks shot an even 42 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Stags 35-33.
Lehigh will now play in Sunday's championship game at 4:30 p.m. at Stabler Arena against La Salle (2-3), who defeated New Hampshire (3-2) 59-51 in Saturday's other opening round match.
After not trailing until early in the fourth quarter, LU battled through a back and forth final 10 minutes to lock down their third straight W. Quinci Mann hit four free throws and blocked the game-tying shot attempt, and Williams drew a huge offensive charge, all in the closing seconds, to help Lehigh lock down the win.
"I thought it was a sign of maturity and growth for this team," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I thought this was a situation where they may have lost last year. Fairfield made a run, our kids responded with their own run and made some big plays in the last three minutes of the game to take the lead and execute down the stretch to keep the lead. That growth and maturity is going to be important for us going forward."
Lehigh jumped out to a 10-7 lead by the first media timeout and scored seven straight overall to take a 15-7 lead by the 1:55 mark on a three-pointer by Sexe. After the Stags hit a three-pointer to end the streak, Sexe answered again with a put back layup to make it 17-10, and Buhr drained a three-pointer with less than a minute to go to give Lehigh a 20-10 lead after one quarter. Lehigh shot 64.3 percent in the frame (9-for-14) and hit two of five three-pointers.
"We felt we had a size advantage with her inside and I thought she did a good job of taking the opportunities that were presented to her," Troyan said of Buhr. "She did a good job of making the right reads around the basket and she's gaining more and more confidence as the season progresses. I think the offense we run suits her abilities as well."
Lehigh grew their lead to 22-12 by extending their 7-0 run early in the second. After a Stag bucket, Grundhoffer drained a jumper off an inbounds pass from Williams, then followed with another jumper to grow the lead back to a game-high 12 at 26-14 with 5:55 remaining until halftime. Fairfield would get within seven, but Williams found Buhr underneath who finished the layup, drew a foul and hit the ensuing free throw to make it 31-21, a lead Lehigh carried into the locker room.
The Stags gained momentum and rallied to climb back into the game in the third quarter, doubling up Lehigh 16-8 in the period to cut the Lehigh lead to 39-37 after three quarters. The Brown and White shot just 3-for-11 in the quarter while the Stags went 6-for-13 and outscored LU 7-0 in points off turnovers. Fairfield closed the quarter on a 12-2 run over the final 4:23 as Lehigh went 1-for-5 after taking an 11-point lead at the five-minute mark.
A back-and-forth final quarter saw the lead change hands six times beginning on the Stags first possession when Erika Schlosser completed a three-point play to make it 40-39. Sexe answered with a layup, and Fairfield's Samantha Copper responded with a bucket of her own to go back up 42-41. Lehigh would retake the lead with 6:02 to go after two free throws from Buhr, but Fairfield once again responded by tying, then retaking the lead at the 4:42 mark and then grabbed their largest lead of the afternoon at 49-48 on a free throw with 4:08 to play.
Buhr made it a one-point game following a basket with 2:31 left off a Hannah Hedstrom assist, then Grundhoffer gave Lehigh the lead for good with 1:42 to go on a bucket underneath. Holding a one-point lead with 33 seconds left, Williams drew a huge offensive charge to force a Fairfield turnover and get Lehigh the ball back. Moments later, Mann hit two free throws to make it 54-51, before Fairfield proceeded to get back within one with 17 seconds left. Mann calmly hit two more from the charity stripe with 15 seconds left, then blocked the potential game-tying shot attempt on the defensive end at the buzzer to lock down the win.
"I thought the seniors came up big down the stretch," Troyan said. "Quinci made four huge foul shots down the stretch in key moments where if you don't hit those, the game can turn on you. Mae took a huge charge and that was probably the difference in the game. When you take a look at those two seniors stepping up with their leadership on the floor in key moments, I think it really gives the younger kids a sense of confidence and understanding of what to do and how to do it.
"We were pretty specific in terms of what we wanted to get down the stretch and I thought they did a good job of being patient and executing that," Troyan added.
Sunday's championship game will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network at PatriotLeague.TV.
Like Lehigh women's basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Lehigh will now play in Sunday's championship game at 4:30 p.m. at Stabler Arena against La Salle (2-3), who defeated New Hampshire (3-2) 59-51 in Saturday's other opening round match.
After not trailing until early in the fourth quarter, LU battled through a back and forth final 10 minutes to lock down their third straight W. Quinci Mann hit four free throws and blocked the game-tying shot attempt, and Williams drew a huge offensive charge, all in the closing seconds, to help Lehigh lock down the win.
"I thought it was a sign of maturity and growth for this team," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I thought this was a situation where they may have lost last year. Fairfield made a run, our kids responded with their own run and made some big plays in the last three minutes of the game to take the lead and execute down the stretch to keep the lead. That growth and maturity is going to be important for us going forward."
Lehigh jumped out to a 10-7 lead by the first media timeout and scored seven straight overall to take a 15-7 lead by the 1:55 mark on a three-pointer by Sexe. After the Stags hit a three-pointer to end the streak, Sexe answered again with a put back layup to make it 17-10, and Buhr drained a three-pointer with less than a minute to go to give Lehigh a 20-10 lead after one quarter. Lehigh shot 64.3 percent in the frame (9-for-14) and hit two of five three-pointers.
"We felt we had a size advantage with her inside and I thought she did a good job of taking the opportunities that were presented to her," Troyan said of Buhr. "She did a good job of making the right reads around the basket and she's gaining more and more confidence as the season progresses. I think the offense we run suits her abilities as well."
Lehigh grew their lead to 22-12 by extending their 7-0 run early in the second. After a Stag bucket, Grundhoffer drained a jumper off an inbounds pass from Williams, then followed with another jumper to grow the lead back to a game-high 12 at 26-14 with 5:55 remaining until halftime. Fairfield would get within seven, but Williams found Buhr underneath who finished the layup, drew a foul and hit the ensuing free throw to make it 31-21, a lead Lehigh carried into the locker room.
The Stags gained momentum and rallied to climb back into the game in the third quarter, doubling up Lehigh 16-8 in the period to cut the Lehigh lead to 39-37 after three quarters. The Brown and White shot just 3-for-11 in the quarter while the Stags went 6-for-13 and outscored LU 7-0 in points off turnovers. Fairfield closed the quarter on a 12-2 run over the final 4:23 as Lehigh went 1-for-5 after taking an 11-point lead at the five-minute mark.
A back-and-forth final quarter saw the lead change hands six times beginning on the Stags first possession when Erika Schlosser completed a three-point play to make it 40-39. Sexe answered with a layup, and Fairfield's Samantha Copper responded with a bucket of her own to go back up 42-41. Lehigh would retake the lead with 6:02 to go after two free throws from Buhr, but Fairfield once again responded by tying, then retaking the lead at the 4:42 mark and then grabbed their largest lead of the afternoon at 49-48 on a free throw with 4:08 to play.
Buhr made it a one-point game following a basket with 2:31 left off a Hannah Hedstrom assist, then Grundhoffer gave Lehigh the lead for good with 1:42 to go on a bucket underneath. Holding a one-point lead with 33 seconds left, Williams drew a huge offensive charge to force a Fairfield turnover and get Lehigh the ball back. Moments later, Mann hit two free throws to make it 54-51, before Fairfield proceeded to get back within one with 17 seconds left. Mann calmly hit two more from the charity stripe with 15 seconds left, then blocked the potential game-tying shot attempt on the defensive end at the buzzer to lock down the win.
"I thought the seniors came up big down the stretch," Troyan said. "Quinci made four huge foul shots down the stretch in key moments where if you don't hit those, the game can turn on you. Mae took a huge charge and that was probably the difference in the game. When you take a look at those two seniors stepping up with their leadership on the floor in key moments, I think it really gives the younger kids a sense of confidence and understanding of what to do and how to do it.
"We were pretty specific in terms of what we wanted to get down the stretch and I thought they did a good job of being patient and executing that," Troyan added.
Sunday's championship game will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network at PatriotLeague.TV.
Like Lehigh women's basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Team Stats
FFD
LEHIGH
FG%
.339
.420
3FG%
.217
.250
FT%
.769
.786
RB
33
35
TO
13
17
STL
7
3
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
22
FGM
8
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
F
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